[Among the Means to Safeguard Chastity: preventing a woman from travelling except with a maḥram]
- One of the measures that preserve chastity is to forbid a woman to embark on any journey unless she is accompanied by a maḥram—a male relative who protects her and guards her against the designs of the frivolous and the immoral.
Sound hadiths clearly prohibit a woman from travelling without a maḥram. Among them are:
• The report of Ibn ʿUmar, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “A woman must not travel for three days unless she is with a maḥram.” (Agreed upon.)
• The report of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, that the Prophet ﷺ “forbade a woman to travel the distance of two days or two nights unless her husband or a maḥram is with her.” (Agreed upon.)
• The report of Abū Hurayrah, in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “It is not lawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel the distance of one day and one night unless she is accompanied by a maḥram.” (Agreed upon.)
The time-frames mentioned in these hadiths—three days, two days, or one day and night—refer to the modes of transport known at that time, namely travelling on foot or by riding-beasts. The apparent variation among the narrations does not mean that only those specific distances are intended. The scholars explain that the wording is not meant literally; rather, it covers every journey that people customarily describe as travel. A woman is therefore forbidden to undertake any such trip without a maḥram.
Imām al-Nawawī said in his commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (9/103): “In sum, every journey that can be called travel is forbidden for a woman unless she is with her husband or a maḥram, whether it be three days, two, one, a barīd, or any other distance.”